Special 301 Report: Ukraine no longer a Priority Foreign Country

Ukraine is no longer highlighted as a Priority Foreign Country - a designation given to the worst offenders - in the Office of the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) latest Special 301 report. The Special 301 Report evaluates the protection of IP rights in the United States’ trading partners on a yearly basis.

In 2013 Ukraine was listed as one of the top offenders, mainly for copyright-related issues such as the widespread use of illegal software by the government, the non-transparent system governing the copyright collectives responsible for collecting and distributing royalties to rights holders, and the country's failure to implement an effective system to combat online piracy.

The USTR launched an investigation in 2013, ultimately finding that Ukraine’s copyright acts, policies and practices were unfavourable to the United States' business activity in Ukraine. However, due to the current political situation in Ukraine, the United States will not take any further action for the time being.

Russia has been on the Priority Watch List, the next category down, for 18 years straight, as a result of the “continued, significant challenges to IP rights protection and enforcement”.

Maya Kryvoshei, PETOŠEVIĆ, Kiev